John McGreal was pleased to see his Colchester United side get their pre-season programme off to a winning start - but admits they can be more clinical in front of goal.

The U's beat Maldon and Tiptree 4-1 in their first friendly of the summer, as they build up for their League Two opener at Notts County on August 4.

Luke Prosser, Sammie Szmodics, Aaron Collins and Mikael Mandron were all on target for Colchester against their Bostik League division north opponents.

But head coach McGreal feels Colchester, who were the sixth lowest scorers in the fourth tier last season, need to be even sharper.

McGreal said: “We’ve had a chat and we know that we can be more clinical – that’s going back to last season.

“But we’ve got a number of players in those forward areas and it was nice to see Aaron Collins come in and create a couple of goals and score.

“There’s a nice balance about the squad, not only with the added experience but also the personalities we’re bringing into the group as well.

“The noise now around the camp is quite electric at the moment and for all of the hard work that we’ve put into the last ten days, the only way to put it into practice is through 11v11."

Colchester gave the majority of their players 45 minutes each at Maldon, with new signings Collins, Harry Pell and Frank Nouble featuring for the U's and Ethan Ross, Bailey Vose and Noah Chesmain playing for the Jammers.

Pell was withdrawn with 12 minutes remaining and replaced by Diaz Wright because of a hamstring strain but boss McGreal said it was just precautionary.

“There was a slight worry about Harry’s hamstring," said McGreal.

“He said he was fine and was quite willing to carry on but there was no point him carrying on.

“I think we saw in that half hour glimpses of what he can bring and he’ll be good to go again, on Monday."

New signing Luke Norris sat out the Maldon friendly due to a slight shoulder issue but is expected to train on Monday, while Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe did not feature against his former club after suffering an ankle injury in training, last Thursday.

Colchester's next pre-season friendly is at National League new boys Braintree Town on Tuesday night.